Techniques for the partial pyrolysis of feedstocks, as well as complete pyrolysis and gasification are known. Furthermore, high-temperature and low-temperature pyrolysis processes are known, and it is known in the art that these different processes work best with different feedstocks and give different resultants. However, obtaining consistency in the pyrolysis products has long been a problem. Prior systems have attempted to pass a gasification agent through a fluidized bed of solid; however, this requires a highly granular and reactive fuel for gasification, and, as such, is limited in its application. Other systems for pyrolysis pass a gasification agent through a solid bed of fuel, that requires a non-caking fuel with high mechanical strength. Likewise, high and low-temperature pyrolysis processes are each better suited to pyrolizing different feedstocks, limiting the range of feedstocks that prior art pyrolysis systems may process. As such, there is a need in the art for pyrolysis systems that may accept a wide variety of fuels.
Furthermore, though both high-temperature and low-temperature pyrolysis processes produce combustible, high-BTU materials, these resultant combustibles are often low grade, and they often contain harmful impurities, such as mercury and sulfur, that may contaminate the environment when these materials are combusted. As such, there remains a need in the art for controlled methods for purifying the resultant products and sequestering noxious materials internal to and external to the pyrolysis process in order to prevent them from entering into the environment.
Furthermore, prior art systems do not provide efficient heat transfer to feedstocks, that exhibit multiple lobes in their specific heat signatures. Therefore, there remains a need in the art for a method of matching the heat transfer rate and dwell timing of the pyrolysis process to that of the particular feedstock-specific heat complex function to provide a greatly improved thermal efficiency of the pyrolysis system.
Furthermore, though the acceptable input organic or synthetic materials for pyrolysis have ranged widely in the past, there remains a need for pyrolysis systems that may process municipal solid waste (MSW) in order to eliminate landfills, waste organic and synthetic materials, and animal waste. There also remains a need for clean, efficient systems for the gasification of coal to globally reduce the dependence on oil drilled and pumped from the Earth's crust.